Background of the Study

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This study attempts to discuss the conflicts faced by Jessie Smith as soldier’s wife during World War II in the Sally Worboyes’ Over Bethnal Green. This chapter includes background of the study, problem formulation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study and definition of terms.

1.1 Background of the Study

War is a calamity and disaster because it brings pain, grief, and sorrow for everyone in the world especially for those who get involved in it. War also takes everything away not only wealth, happiness but also human life. Besides the men who were involved in the war itself, most women and children also the victims of war because they are regarded as “weak person”. They could not do anything to reject the war but let their husbands or fathers join the army as a soldier to defend the country and face the worst reality: death. War brings disadvantages for human. The war that happens on earth takes lots of victims. In this study, the writer gives phenomena of war on earth. Simon Robinson and Vivienne Walt reported that the conflict in Congo has killed 4 million people since 1998. It was the world’s most lethal conflict since World War II. By conventional measures, the conflict is over. Congo is no longer the playground of foreign armies. But the suffering of Congo people continues. The country is plagued by bad sanitation, disease, malnutrition and dislocation. As it happened to Mukuya Ulumba, 28, who recounts the losses she has suffered in 2 recent months. Several of her relatives and neighbors were killed when antigovernment rebels stormed their village last November. Now she is in a refugee camp in Katanga. She is struggling to save her 6- month-old son Amoni Mutumbo from malnutrition, without good medicines he will die of starvation Time, 2006: 28. Innocent people such as women and children are the victims in war as it happened in Baghdad where 5 civilians of Iraq including a baby and 2 women died when the jet- fighter of the United States army bombed south of Iraq as reported by Rommy Fibri Tempo, 2002. The war between the United States and Iraq never ends and the war makes the people there suffer as it happened since Tuesday night that lot of the village in Hilla District 50 kilometres from Baghdad was destroyed because of cluster bomb. At least 70 civilians were seriously injured and 33 died because of the attack by the United States and British armies. “2 of my children died and 3 others were still in hospital.’’ Said Zahra Abdul Wahadi 25. Another civilian, Saad Al-Faluj 60 sobbed, “ I do not involved in war, why still get bombed too Tempo, 2003. The bitterness from war also happened in Al- Haditsa, Iraq. On November, 19, 2005, one member of the Marine died because a bomb exploded under his humvee on a road. Within hours, Marines killed 24 Iraqis almost all of them are unarmed and most of them were women and children Time, 2006: 22. The writer chose the novel Over Bethnal Green 2000 by Sally Worboyes because there are many problems and conflicts faced by Jessie Smith as the main character. The setting of the novel is in Britain in 1939 when the government declared World War II against Germany. 3 In our life there are so many problems that we have to face. Problems of life can trigger a conflict in our society. A conflict could happen if there is any misunderstanding from both sides. Conflict could happen to everyone everywhere. Here, in Over Bethnal Green the author presents many conflicts that should be faced by the main character. Jessie Smith and Tom are a newlywed couple. They have a six- month old son, Billy. Jessie must let her husband join the army because the British Government declared war against Germany. The conflict begins, when her house was bombed and she did not have anything. She moved from one house to another. The conflict that happens between Jessie and her mother also makes Jessie upset. The other conflict was when she was thrown away from her new house because her landlord knew that Jessie’s husband deserted the war and many other conflicts filled the whole story. In Over Bethnal Green, the writer finds many conflicts and tries to reveal the conflicts that surround Jessie during the war and also figures out how Jessie can overcome her problems.

1.2 Objectives of the Study